Quick Links
While Discord is typically associated with gamers, the chat app has a range of uses for anyone who wants to join certain communities or keep in touch with their friends. I use Discord every day and these are the reasons I would recommend it to anyone looking for a social platform to join.
1Anyone Can Use Video and Voice Calling
Discordgained its popularity as a TeamSpeak alternative for gamers. But its functionality means that it can be used as a general voice and video calling app.
You don’t have to join a Discord server to use voice and video chat either. You can make calls from your Direct Messages to chat with your friends directly. So while it’s associated with gamers, you can essentially use it as a chat and calling app with any of your contacts on Discord.
It’s also useful for chatting with people you’re only acquainted with, as it does not require you to give out your phone number like WhatsApp. I’ve found it to be a useful way to also make new friends when new people join the voice chats on private servers.
2Screen Sharing Provides Productivity Benefits
There’s a reason that some workplaces use Discord as a team chat app. It’s free, your server doesn’t need to be public, and it has a variety of productivity features like screen sharing.
Screen sharing can be useful when you’re playing games and you want your friends to see what you’re doing. But it’s also useful for group projects and other work since you may go through troubleshooting together or pull up a document on your screen to share.
When I worked with a startup that was creating a website, we used Discord as our hub for communication and it met all our needs.
3You Can Engage in Various Built-In Activities
Discord has an Activities feature that you can use to engage in various games and activities with others in your voice chat. These activities include Watch Together, which lets you play YouTube videos that you can view together. The host chooses the videos and sets up the playlist.
There are also a variety of games you can play together on Discord right within your chat. This includes Putt Party, Chess in the Park, and Poker Night. There is also a productivity feature called Whiteboard that lets you collaborate on a board that you can draw on.
Discord has also invited third parties to create games on the platform, so we will likely see more tools and activities available in the future.
4Users Can Follow Fandoms and Other Communities
While Reddit is a great place for communities to gather around a specific topic, Discord also provides this ability with more interactive elements. You can join the servers for a specific game or product to receive updates from the developers and engage with community members.
If you’re worried about your notifications being too busy, Discord gives you the ability to mute certain channels and follow specific topics.
If your interest in a certain community wanes, you can also easilyleave a Discord server.
5You Can Start a Server for Just You and Your Friends
While all the talk of joining servers might leave new users feeling a bit intimidated, you don’t have to join public servers or ones created by others. You canset up your own Discord serverfor free and only invite a few people. As the admin of the server, you can also restrict permissions for regular members.
I often use small Discord servers like these so that I can hang out with friends online, whether we’re gaming, doing different activities, or just having a chat.
If you’re not familiar with Discord, you might think its just for gamers. But my daily usage of the app has shown me that it’s so much more.
